For a moment, he was
uncertain as to what to do, then calmly, he stepped back and aimed a blast at
the lock. The door came open slowly, in an almost welcoming fashion.

Inside was utter and
complete darkness.

Bob stepped inside and
brought a globe of light into being in his palm. Still it did little to
illuminate the impenetrable blackness. There was no sound save Bob's own ragged
breathing, but the stench of Daemon engulfed him and brought the bile to his
throat. Still Bob forced himself to step fully into the room.

The door slammed shut
behind him.

Now it was he within that
tiny space of light and the darkness attempted to bury him alive. Bob faced
whatever was to come with grim determination.

Something moved within
the blackness, Bob could sense it more than see it.

"Oh I must
disagree," Daemon said. "You belong to me, Dariem. You are my
plaything to do with what I please."

"Never."

He was not prepared for
her sudden and violent attack. Daemon bored her way into his mind and Bob cried
out in agony as she ripped at his consciousness. The pain sent the Guardian to
his knees.

"You see my dear
Dariem? I do not have to engage in physical confrontation." Daemon's voice
echoed in his processor above his screams. She drove her presence deeper into
Bob's mind, tearing away at his will, "It is a simple matter of destroying
you from within."

"No!" Bob
fought back, using his memories and his love and respect for the people he held
dear as a shield as he had planned. They were waiting for him. Dot was waiting
for him and he would be with her.

Daemon shattered the
barrier Bob had constructed within his mind and his unconscious self was hurled
into a nightmarish world.

He was floating in
that alien realm known as the web. Mainframe was lost to him. Dot lost to him.
His skin burned. The air was poison. He was suffocating, being eaten alive by
the degradation.

"Good bye Dot,"
he whispered in a hoarse voice.

Dot.

"Dot!" Bob
screamed, and fought his way out of the world of Daemon's warped imagination.

"Why do you continue
to struggle?" Daemon hissed. "It is useless, give yourself to
me!"

"Never!" Bob
cried again and Daemon forced him back into another world. Here worms bored
their way into his skull - into Dot's skull - and Bob was forced to watch her
suffer, until he realized that it was only a vision and by fighting would once
again prevail, using his memories, his thoughts and dreams as a weapon to keep
the super-virus at bay.

"Enough of these
games," Daemon had finally lost patience and Bob was violently forced back
into the waking world.

He was on his knees in
total darkness. His head was pounding and his lungs ached. Somehow through it
all he managed to create another ball of light.

"Yes, you please me
well, Robert Lan," Daemon seemed amused again. "You are strong. Why
must we fight like this?"

And she was before him,
invading Bob's circle of light.

"Don't you realize,"
Daemon held out her arms as though to embrace him, "what we could
accomplish? The power we could wield together?"

"An evil corrupting
power," Bob said, "Gathered by using the lives of innocent sprites
and binomes."

"There must be some
suffering of the lower orders for me to achieve my greatness, Dariem."

"Lower orders?"
Bob smirked at her, "You really are full of yourself aren't? Or should I
say, full of it?"

That had the desired
effect, Daemon screamed in fury and rushed him and Bob sent the energy ball
hurling at her. A different scream, one from agony tore from Daemons lips as
she was thrown backwards. Her body convulsed as sparks of the golden light ran
across her skin.

Bob gathered more power
but as he was doing so, he felt a brush of something along his legs and he
realized it was Tentacles.

Bob turned as the first
tendril wrapped around his leg, he bent and grasped at it, sending a blast of
power through it. The thing screeched, it was a high pitch agonizing wail that
had Bob clamping his hands over his ears. Movement behind him alerted him to
danger and as Bob turned, Daemon leapt upon him and slashed him across his
face.

"How do you think
your Dot will like you now?" Daemon cried.

Bob smiled bitterly and
wiped the blood from his face, "You're jealous of her aren't you? Because
she's more of a woman than you'll ever hope to be."

Bob was almost ready for
the red-hot blast that came at him but was barely able to dodge out of its way.
The heat sent agony though the wound on his face but he had to keep going, get
her angry enough so she would make a mistake. Become reckless.

"I could destroy you
now," Daemon said, "But I need you Robert Lan. That does not mean I
won't hurt you. You must be punished for your traitorous actions. Beg me for
forgiveness, and I will be certain your punishment is swift."

"It ends here,
Daemon," Bob ignored her words. "One of us is not leaving this room
alive."

"Then you leave me
no choice."

Bob waited as she
gathered her power. Around her, Tentacles writhed and twisted in a protective
aura. Bob placed his hand over Glitch.

The attack, when it came
slammed, into Bob, injuring him not only physically, but mentally as a wave of
everything, evil, corrupt and dark engulfed his mind and for a moment, he
succumbed to it and Dariem took control and he craved the power that Daemon had
promised him.

But somehow Bob saw what
the result of failure would be and never would he allow Daemon to succeed. So
Bob countered her move with his own power, and as always the thoughts and
memories of what was dear to him provided a shield.

Something seized him in
the physical world and he realized it was Tentacles. The oily tendrils were
binding his legs, securing his arms behind him. But Bob could not fend off
Daemon's mental assault and this physical one. Soon he was immobile, encased
once again in a dark mass. Then Tentacles began to crush the breath from him.
If he lost in the physical world, he'd lose in the mental one as well. Bob
cried out, "Enough! All right!"

Daemon's mental onslaught
ceased. "You're surrendering?"

"Yes," Bob
said.

"Excellent,"
Daemon withdrew. Bob opened his eyes and the darkness had receded to reveal her
as she walked towards him, "I'm glad you see the futility of fighting
me."

"Yes," Bob said
bitterly. "You've won Daemon. I won't fight you anymore."

"Never?" She
was close to him. "You are truly and completely mine?"

Bob felt Tentacles
release him, "Yes."

Daemon laid her hands on
Bob's chest. "It will be glorious, my Dariem." Her face was close to
his now. "Glorious." Her lips gently touched his.

Bob's hand closed around
Glitch and as Daemon stepped back, he muttered a single word.

"Purge."

"What?"

A white light exploded
from the icon in Bob's hand. The globe grew rapidly engulfing them both in
purifying light.

"What!" Daemon
screamed again, "No --!"

The Purge, the one
command that Bob had never attempted. It eradicated whatever it touched.
Darkness had no match in its power, but Bob had been warned of the possible
cost of its use.

All of his power and his
life.

The globe continued to
grow, obliterating the darkness in its path, drawing on Bob's energy to feed
it. The pain was excruciating, but Bob did not falter. He willed everything,
his strength, his energy and his very core-com into the purifying field.

Daemon was screaming as
her body convulsed. She clawed at invisible things crawling on her skin. The
light was eating away at her flesh. Daemon's screaming was torture. It almost
sent Bob into madness. To have to watch another life, suffering despite what
Daemon was, was almost more than his protocols could stand. But still Bob
pressed on. And as the energy continued to eat away at the super virus, Daemon
fell into a heap on the floor, her body twitched and her screams abruptly
ceased.

Daemon began to laugh. It
was the laugh of someone no longer coherent. Where pain had finally shattered
their mind. It was a sound more horrible than the screaming had been.

The light was fading now
and Bob knew it would be over soon. Suddenly he was no longer inside himself.
He was watching someone that look liked him standing over Daemon's form,
watching her in her death throes. Someone that looked like his former self,
that cocky young Guardian from so long ago. That man looked at him and smiled
sadly before the backlash of power swept over him and it began to eat away at
his flesh as well. His insides melted as they did with Daemon until there was
nothing left but bone, and then even that became dust.

Robert Lan died.

***

The smell of death was heavy
in the air as Dot led her troops on an assault against the enemy ground forces.
The last of their transports attacked without mercy, relentless in their
pursuit of victory.

After landing her
transport near the Hall, Dot commandeered some ground troops and met up with
Mouse and they made a mad race through enemy fire for the Hall entrance. Above
them, Katiyana continued to lead the squadrons but the enemy was faltering
against the onslaught of the Resistance. Dot offered a silent prayer to the
User to protect the Keytool Mistress.

Now Dot had a single
goal. To infiltrate Council Hall, to rescue Bob.

There seemed to be less
troops guarding the entrance, which raised Dot's suspicions. More resistance
forces joined them and began to push the enemy back.

Then an explosion came
from within the Hall, blowing out a good-sized chunk of the wall and catching
the enemy completely unawares.

"Now!" Dot
screamed, "Forward!"

With cries of rebellion,
the Resistance troops surged forward, converging on the Hall. To Dot's relief
there were more of their troops already engaging the enemy within. There was a
brief but heated battle when Dot again found herself focused totally on staying
processing and as always Mouse was at her back. At last the resistance
prevailed and the enemy fled before them.

"Sis!" A
familiar voice suddenly called and Matrix was running towards her, followed by
AndrAIa, Dom, and Sirce. "We've taken the Hall!"

A ragged cheer went up
but Dot nodded grimly, she'd save celebrations for later, "Where's
Bob?"

Everyone exchanged almost
guilty looks.

"He's in the Council
Chambers." Matrix said.

"Oh no," Dot
said, "Take me there!"

Dot ran in her brother's
wake. At one point, Ray joined them. A few skirmishes small skirmishes that
they ran into were quelled immediately and at last they came to the entrance.
The door was ajar.

"Matrix?" Dot
turned to him.

"Stay back,"
Matrix nodded to AndrAIa and the game sprite brandished her trident. Then the
brawny sprite grabbed at the door handle and pulled. Sinew stretched tight as
the renegade threw all his strength into the task and with a ponderous groan
the door came open.

AndrAIa was through
first, her trident blazing but the light seemed muted by the darkness within.
The rest of the soldiers rushed into the room and Dot frowned as her booted
feet came down on puddle of something inky and soft.

"What in the net
--," Dot began "Oh me User - everyone out, now!"

Someone cried out in
shock just as Dot discovered she was rooted to the spot by the black tendrils
wrapping themselves around her boots.

"It's the viral
bug!" Dot screamed, she aimed her wrist cannon and began to fire. The
thing withdrew with a screech that caused an icy shudder down many a spine.

Her soldiers following
suit, the room was suddenly filled with defiant cries and the acrid smell of
burning things and then a sound, like a guttural moan drew everyone's attention
above.

Dot for the rest of her
processing would not be able to accurately describe what she saw there. It was
more of an impression of something rather than a tangible thing, but she would
always remember the abyss that was a mouth filled with teeth the size of
daggers.

All present were
transfixed for a moment. The Matrix with an animalistic cry bursting from his
lungs fired Gun into the huge maw and Dot and the rest followed suit. The thing
roared in its death throes and a flash from Gun glinted off a large metallic
object.

Dot wondered what it was
when it began to fall and a burst of golden light revealed the object that
plummeted to the ground and Dot screamed.

***

The cadet took his time
walking down the corridor towards the office. He knew he hadn't done anything,
well not this time, anyway. So why had he been called to the Prime Guardian's
office?

He knocked politely when
he arrived and when he was told to enter, the cadet took a deep breath and did
so.

"You wanted to see
me sir?"

Prime Guardian Turbo
stood from behind his desk and a grin broke out across his face, "For one
last time, son."

"One last
time?"

"Yup," Turbo said.
"I'm proud of you son. You defeated Daemon and freed the net."

"What?" The
cadet looked at him puzzled. "Sir what are you talking about?"

Turbo chuckled and came
around the desk. To the cadet's surprise he embraced him. "You've always
been like a son to me Bob. You'll make a fine Prime Guardian."

Something stirred inside
the cadet's mind. A realization of who he really was and what had happened.
What he was seeing -- the Academy and Turbo's office was an illusion or more
precisely, a long ago memory. And he was not a young cadet. He was Bob,
Guardian 452.

"Turbo?" Bob
whispered. "I'm dead?"

"Well - not all of
you."

"What? Turbo, that's
ridiculous. Am I dead or not?"

"He means a part of
you has died, my son." The familiar voice startled him. "Phong?"
Bob looked at his friend in shock, "How - what --?"

Phong rolled over to him,
"I do not have much time, my son. I must go back. You must make a
decision."

"That part of
yourself had to be sacrificed for Glitch to have the power to assist you in
defeating Daemon." Turbo said. "Your physical body is intact. What
you saw was a product of your mind. You can go back, but it will cost you.
You'll never be the same again."

Bob returned the smile,
"No, I'm not wondering that at all. I know she'll still love me."

Bob turned to his mentor and
embraced him. "Thank you Turbo, for saving Dot and for everything. I'm
going to miss you so much."

"Get on home,
you." Turbo said gruffly, turning away, but not before Bob saw his eyes
glistening with tears.

"Phong?" But
the venerable sprite was gone and Bob had a feeling he wouldn't get any answers
when he went home.

Then Bob was alone.
Surrounded by nothing. He closed his eyes and the events of his life replayed
themselves, from his first conscious thought, to his first tentative steps, to
his first time out in the sunshine and his first kiss. He blushed at that.
Onward the vision went until he reached the present and his mind replayed the
battle with Daemon, to the point where he had died. And he felt a hole
somewhere deep within him. A part of him that was gone forever and sadness took
hold of him for a time, but as always, his memories kept it at bay.

His eyes opened and he
was on the floor of Council Hall. It was still dim in the room, but Bob could
see well enough. Every part of his body was in agony. His head felt as though
it was exploding in rapid succession and his lungs were raw. As Bob struggled
to his knees, he saw a pile of something unidentifiable lying a few feet away
from him. Bob avoided it.

It was done as last. He
had won. Daemon was destroyed.

As Bob was climbing to
his feet and he was attaching Glitch to his chest, he felt something brush at
his ankles.

Bob looked down, "Oh
my User."

A tentacle wrapped around
his throat, jerking him violently off his feet, lifting him into the air where
Bob hung like a helpless rag doll as he choked.

"No!" Bob
wasn't certain if he screamed it or just thought it. The tentacle tightened,
pushing against his throat, jerking his head back and forth and Bob realized it
was trying to snap his neck.

Then there were sounds
that he barely registered below him. Yelling voices and sounds of gunplay. The
blasts streaked past him and he felt Tentacles writhing in pain. Bob grabbed at
the disgusting thing around his neck and tried to pry it off. Then a blast,
which Bob somehow recognized as one from Gun came from out of nowhere. Bob saw
it slam into the ceiling and illuminated a monstrous thing with a gaping maw
filled with razor teeth. Remembering Melissa's words, Bob gathered what
remained of his energy and sent a blast straight into it. The creature gave a
death cry and the tentacle that held him jerked once and released him.

Then Bob began to fall.

"Bob!" The
voice was Dot's. His beloved Dot. Had they seen him hanging suspended like
that? He didn't know and he realized in a few nanos, it wouldn't matter.

***

Someone was crying.

Bob wondered who it was.
It was so familiar. Voices just out of his range of hearing teased his senses.
Then Bob drifted away again.

When he returned to the conscious
world, Bob recognized the familiar room of the infirmary.

"Bob!" It was
Dot and she was crying and Bob knew it was her he had heard before. She had
never left his side. Tears welled in Bob's eyes. He realized he couldn't move,
so they fell uninhibited. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her but he
couldn't speak and he realized he didn't need to. She could see it in his eyes.